Have you ever made wood stain?

The next logical step in finishing Alki Point is the exterior. I've been playing around in my mind with colors, textures, and finishes, but nothing yet has cemented the decision. I'm definitely going in two directions, and one of them employs vertical wood siding. 

Have you ever made wood stain using the apple cider vinegar/steel wool method? White vinegar and rusty nails? How about coffee or tea? Well, I never have, but I plan to do some experimenting this weekend!

I read a great blog post from A Piece Of Rainbow. She tested several wood staining methods on several wood species. The great thing about all of them? No smelly chemicals! All of her methods used natural ingredients, and I bet most of us already have them at home! That means, it's almost free! I like that!

HBS/Miniatures.com has a little tutorial on this topic, so that tells me it must be a tried and true method for miniaturists.

For my experiment, I am using the Apple Cider Vinegar and Steel Wool concoction. I want to achieve a very dark brown (to compliment the wood floors in Alki Point) or a very dark and weathered grey (this is a common finish seen in wood siding here in the Northwest). The Apple Cider Vinegar is supposed to achieve a darker stain. How handy is that? It is just what I found in my cupboard!

I started with a non metallic container. Apparently, this is very important. The acid in the vinegar reacts with metal, and will ruin any metal container. I had a Rubbermaid salad dressing bottle, so that's what I used.

I took a piece of steel wool, about the size of an S.O.S. pad and dropped it in the bottle. My steel wool does not have the blue sticky soap stuff like S.O.S. pads. It is the kind that woodworkers use to sand fine finishes. It would be interesting to see how the soap effected the stain... Then I poured in the Apple Cider Vinegar until the steel wool was completely covered.

Everything I read about the process said to leave the lid open. Not because the metal and acid would cause a dangerous reaction of any kind, but because the process that is happening is actually oxidation! The pair needs air to work! Man, science just geeks me out!

Reportedly, the longer you leave them stewing, the darker the stain will be. After 24 hours, I am not seeing much change in the color of the liquid in the bottle. Is that because the color of Apple Cider Vinegar is already so rusty looking? Time will tell. Unfortunately, I don't have any White Vinegar on hand. It would be interesting to watch the color change happen. Oh well. Someday...

I'll probably just let them hang out together until Saturday. Then I'll try the stain on a couple of different scrap pieces. In the blog post, Ananda added concentrated brewed coffee to her vinegar stain and got darker results. The tannins react with the wood.

I may just experiment with that a little, too. The miniatures.com tutorial recommends straining the liquid to eliminate the tiny shards of steel that are left behind. I like it! I'll get out my trusty funnel, put a coffee filter in it, then pour it into another sealable container. Gosh! I hope I made enough!

The Hardest Challenges, The Greatest Excitement!

It's been an exciting few days which started with the Seahawks' shocking last second victory over the Vikings due to a missed chip shot 27 yard field goal. I am still pinching myself over that one. I do feel very bad for the Vikings and their fans. Been there... Remember last year's Superbowl? If you are a Seahawks or Patriots fan, you'll never forget it.

I opted for option #2 in plans for last weekend. I was feeling pretty nervous about all of the things I needed to do for the front wall of Alki Point, so I spent most of the weekend watching football playoffs with the hubs. I practically eliminated the front wall that came with the Asahi Tea House kit so that I could have a wall of windows. I was a little concerned in my ability to pull off such a radical bash. Did I measure everything correctly? Was the lexan going to slip in between both sets of window frames like I planned? Had I thought of all of the variables? What if I really messed up? How was I going to fix it?

Thank all of the wonderful blessing/luck/good fortune/karma/guardian angels/planning/past mistakes etcetera - it all worked out magically! The scoring tool was perfect! I made sure to secure the 1/16" thick lexan to my cutting mat with painters tape, then secured my steel ruler to both the lexan and to the cutting mat before I started to score it. Nothing moved on me, so my score lines were perfect each time. After scoring with about 14 passes, all I needed to do was cut through the film on the opposite side with my craft knife. Only one small edge had to be sanded a bit, due mostly to paint build up on the frame.

With the front wall "glass", interior window and door frames and door handles installed, I could now attach the front wall to the structure - another scary proposition. Did I measure the door height to floor accurately? Did I cut the slots for the tabs in the right place? Gulp... Only one way to find out... Other than having to sort of jimmy the floor under the bottom of the door a bit, and enlarge one of the slots slightly, it matched up perfectly! Like I planned it or something! Actually, I did do a LOT of planning and dry fitting along the way and it paid off!

After the wall was attached, I just stared at Alki Point for a while. Then I got out the roof pieces and started fooling around with those to see how things were going to look. It was then that I realized that everything is totally coming together like I first saw it in my mind's eye. That is such an exciting and rewarding feeling, and why all of us do what we do. Right?

Then, I looked over at the poor pillowless bed and remembered that I still had some challenges in front of me. I thought "why are you so afraid to make a stupid pillow?". Really? I have enough pillow making material that I could screw up twelve times and still be able to start over. Shelley was even so kind as to find a great tutorial, give it a go, take in progress photos, then email it all to me! If she was willing to do all of that for me, I at least owed her a try! So I did...

I used a little fusible web on the first couple throw pillows to see how it would work. On the grey pillows, it worked well enough that all I had to do was hand sew the last opening. The coral fabric did not want to stay together, so I ended up hand sewing all of them. I made several of them and just finished the best four.

For the bed pillows, I covered 3/16" x 1-1/2" x 2" mat board pieces with quilt batting using Tacky Glue. Then I took cotton handkerchief material and glued it over the batting. For the pillow cases, I ironed seems into the material, then hand sewed two sides leaving one open to slide the pillows into.

My stitches are okay - not as clean looking as I'd like, but I got some experience and learned some things. I think I need to let go of the idea that everything should turn out perfectly. I am happy and can live with the pillows I made, especially when I look at the project as a whole - I think Alki Point, for the most part, is turning out just as I had hoped!

Got Sticks?

One thing I learned back in 2004 when decorating our first house was, you've got to have sticks! Every design magazine I've ever looked at whether modern, contemporary, traditional or retro all have one thing in common - sticks! In my current house, which is very traditionally decorated, I have two wonderful tall jugs/vases with... you guessed it... Sticks! I find that bringing wood elements into any design adds the perfect little touch of natures majesty.

Alki Point needed a little design element in the corner connecting the right wall with the front wall of windows. I made a large Asian looking plant in a resin wicker basket, but it seemed a little too big for the space. After all, we are not trying to block the view of Puget Sound. It needed just a little pop of nature so that when guests gazed out the big wall of windows, they'd have a little perspective. Here in the Northwest, we often combine elements of water with forest.

Luckily, I had some really awesome planters that I designed for Alki Point. The 3D printing process done in White, Strong and Flexible leaves a wonderful pottery type texture that is a perfect organic balance to the modern and sleek elements. I also just so happened to have several harvested, saved and recycled materials to create an interesting stick sculpture.

The ones on the left are pieces that I "borrowed" from an artificial arrangement that is stored away just to be borrowed from. The sticks on the right are "borrowed" from some stocks of autumn leaves I have to decorate the front porch for fall, and the sticks in the middle are actually huckleberry branches harvested from our beautiful Gifford Pinchot National Forest on vacation last summer. I always come home with lots of forest treasures!

I decided on a good length, then cut them down with my nippers. I was able to get two sticks out of some of them.

On the test arrangement, I decided I wanted them to be sticking out of the planter just a little more.

So I filled the planter about 1/3 full with hot glue. I let it cool completely before placing the sticks so that they would not sink in. I added just a little glob to the end of each stick before I placed it in.

The whole project took about 10 minutes, even with stopping to take photos. I love all of the different textures together, and the planter is just what I was hoping for!

Now for the Asian plant that I did not use here (but will use in the future, or maybe outside the structure)...

I picked up a branch of this artificial leaf at Joanne Fabrics a while back. I have no idea what type of plant it's supposed to be, but the leaf color and markings combined with the dark brown stem reminds me of stuff I've seen in the Japanese Garden here in Seattle.

The container I'm using is one of the resin types that I picked up on a HBS/miniatures.com order. I start by just squeezing a bit of the hot glue to hold the first branch in place. I like to get several of them just tacked in place. That lets me arrange and angle them the way I like. Once I am happy. I'll fill the rest of the container about 2/3 full of hot glue. I hold onto the branches until the glue is set, because the hot glue will melt and sort of wilt them. That is a good thing, trust me.

Once the hot glue has cooled, you can further arrange and pose the new plant with floral wire. I just play around with it until I am happy with the pose. Then I wrap the wire around, give it a twist, cut off the excess, add a dot of hot glue to hold it in place, then camouflage the wire as best as possible.

To finish off the planter, I add a layer of white glue. I use a toothpick to cover the entire surface under the plant.

I used rubber "bark" that I have on hand from HBS to cover the glue layer. The glue dries clear. You can use dried coffee grounds or tea leaves as well. Just apply over the glue layer, let dry, then shake off the excess.

Although it turned out to be a littler larger than I was intending it to and was not right for the space, it will work out great someplace else!

Hope you give sticks and plants a try if you haven't yet!